Singapore, 6 March 2018– NeuroTrend Pte Ltd, a globally recognised neuroscience technology company which originated in Russia, will expand its global presence through Singapore via a Memorandum of Understanding with Singapore Press Holdings Limited (SPH) signed today.

The two parties will jointly launch the first-of-its-kind, next-generation Neuromarketing Consumer Insights Lab to provide a deeper level of consumer insights for advertisers. The newly-launched first joint-commercial Neuromarketing Lab will be NeuroTrend Pte Ltd’s first fully-established lab outside of Russia. The lab, which can simultaneously process five respondents at a time, will be located at the SPH News Centre to cater to the media company’s clients.

NeuroTrend has proven its technology by providing over 1,000 consumer insight reports over the last two years in Russia. Its services have been engaged by well-known global companies spanning FMCG firms, MNCs and NGOs, such as Johnson & Johnson, KFC, Knauf, Lays, Pepsico, Pfizer, Philip Morris, Teva Pharmaceutical, World Wildlife Fund and more. NeuroTrend will soon be launching four more Neuromarketing Labs with other partners in Southeast Asia over the last few years.

Advertising spend in Asia Pacific will grow by 5.6 percent in 2017 to US$156 billion, overshooting previous forecasts by 0.2 percent and ensuring the region holds its position as the second largest market after North America ($196 billion), according to a recent Magna Advertising Forecast report from IPG Mediabrands. Advertising agencies and broadcast media companies are now turning to data analytics to further deepen the engagement and effectiveness of their advertisements.

Natalia Galkina, CEO, NeuroTrend Pte Ltd, said: “We are extremely excited about our partnership with SPH. Globally, neuromarketing is the new frontier in the advertising industry helping companies to optimise their marketing dollars and we are glad to bring it to the global stage from Singapore. We are confident that creative agencies and media companies in this region will benefit immensely from this new-age technology.”

“Over the recent past, neuro scientific technology has played a key role in helping companies optimise their marketing dollars. It is today considered a serious research area that is scientifically sound, genuinely interesting field in cognitive science, where the response to products and consumer decision-making is understood on the level of body and mind,” she added.

The typical method used to analyse respondents is to fit them with an Electroencephalography (EEG) headset, an eye tracker, a polygraph instrument and a facial reader camera. These non-invasive hardware are integrated to collect signals from the brain, eye movements, physiological measurements and facial expressions, which are then sent to a server. NeuroTrend will then analyse the data using its patented neuroscience complex software and algorithms enhanced by artificial intelligence, focusing on the parameters of interest, emotions, attention and memory. A report will then be generated advising the media company on how the print or video advertisement can be optimised for maximum impact.

Mr Ignatius Low, Head, Media Solutions, Integrated Marketing, at SPH, said: “SPH is constantly innovating and offering new technologies and media products to better serve our advertisers. The customer insights and intelligence generated will add value to their marketing strategies and campaigns, helping them to effectively target and engage their audiences across our multiple media platforms.

With the Neuromarketing Consumer Insights Lab, advertisers and agencies can now leverage on cutting-edge neuromarketing research for ad concept testing, giving them a better understanding of content consumption behaviour and how context affects ad effectiveness."

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About NeuroTrend Pte Ltd

Neurotrend Pte Ltd is the Singapore-based entity of JSC NeuroTrend (Russia). NeuroTrend Pte Ltd holds the IP rights of all neuroscientific technologies for the company outside of the CIS countries.

It is jointly owned by the founders of JSC NeuroTrend (Russia), Mr Victor Levin (Chairman of NeuroTrend Pte Ltd), and Singaporean businessmen.

Since its founding in 2011, JSC NeuroTrend (Russia), has provided over 1000 consumer insight reports to a large number of companies including several international brands. JSC NeuroTrend has over 50 specialists in all areas of neuromarketing including well known professors in neuroscience and senior PhDs etc as part of the team.

NeuroTrend Pte Ltd intends to expand rapidly overseas with a target of over 200 labs in all the major cities within the next four years via partnerships with advertising agencies and media companies.

NeuroTrend will also establish a research and development lab in Singapore to develop its neuroscience capabilities, as well as an analytics lab of engineers and scientists to support its Russian facility in generating consumer reports for clients.

SPH's core business is publishing of newspapers, magazines and books in both print and digital editions. It also owns other digital products, online classifieds, radio stations and outdoor media.

On the property front, SPH owns 70% in a real estate investment trust called SPH REIT which comprises Paragon, a premier upscale retail mall and medical suite/office property in Orchard Road and The Clementi Mall, a mid-market suburban mall.

SPH also owns and operates The Seletar Mall. It built an upmarket residential condominium, Sky@eleven, at Thomson Road, and is developing a new commercial cum residential site at Woodleigh Road. It also has a stake in Chinatown Point.

It is in the aged care sector and owns Orange Valley, Singapore’s largest private nursing home operator.

SPH runs a regional events arm and a chain of Buzz retail outlets. It also invested in the education business.